Duomo Concattedrale dei Santi Gregorio Magno e Margherita

Ripatransone's co-cathedral is dedicated to Saints Gregory the Great and Margaret. Begun in 1597 on the site of an earlier church of San Gregorio Magno, it combines a tall nave and octagonal crossing with paintings, carved furnishings and later additions that record several centuries of civic and religious life.

Why it matters

The new cathedral was commissioned by Bishop Pompeo de Nobili after Ripatransone became a city and diocese in 1571. Designed by Gaspare Guerra of Modena, the building was completed by 1623. Its interior includes works by artists active across the Marche and central Italy, among them Orazio Gentileschi, Giovanni Lanfranco and Alessandro Turchi.

What to notice

The wooden pulpit, carved by Desiderio Bonfini in 1625, bears the town's heraldic emblems. The organ is Gaetano Callido's 1783 opus 195, moved here from the church of the Maddalena in 1812. A polychrome wooden crucifix in the right nave is traditionally said to have been given by Pope Pius V in 1571 and is attributed to Giovan Battista Casignola. The chapels contain paintings including Gentileschi's altarpiece for the chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene and a work by Giovanni Lanfranco in the Marcelli chapel. The Bedini brothers' decoration of 1959–60 covers the crossing and dome.

Context and history

Guerra's cathedral was built between 1597 and 1623. The octagonal tiburio followed in 1786, the façade was completed in 1842, and Francesco Vespignani designed the bell tower built between 1884 and 1902. Its copper statue of the Redeemer was cast in Milan and raised in 1901. Restoration campaigns continued through the twentieth century, including work on the interior in 1959–60 and 1971–74.